


A Heartbeat for a Phantom

by unclechrom



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, obviously P5 endgame spoilers in here, this takes place two years after the end of the game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-04-21 00:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14273142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unclechrom/pseuds/unclechrom
Summary: A ghost from Akira's past has begun to haunt him around his university campus.Dead men don't need a college degree, do they?





	1. Spring

**Author's Note:**

> I started working on this last fall, and I'm finally getting around to piecing it together from all of my receipt paper notes.  
> Shout out to [lovedeterrence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovedeterrence) for being my editor and enduring the suffering my notes cause.

Another spring, yet another year of classes that never prepare students for the real world. Akira shivered a bit as he made the trek to his next class in the brisk April air, wishing he had thought to grab his heavier coat that morning before leaving his apartment. He pulled his hood up to shield himself from the wind.

As he was entering the classroom building, a large group of students was exiting from the doors. He wasn’t entirely paying attention to the students as they left, but something in his peripheral made him freeze in the middle of the doorway, much to the dismay of the people walking behind him.

Quickly, Akira worked his way upstream in the small crowd of students trying to enter the building, only to discover what he had seen was nowhere to be found. He hesitated for only a moment before heading back into the building. It wouldn’t do to be late on the first day of class after all.

Once he made it to the classroom, he settled into a desk along the left side of the room as the professor greeted the class and began passing out copies of the syllabus. As the professor droned on, explaining the expectations for the course, Akira’s mind was everywhere _but_ the syllabus.

Dead men don’t go to college.

Especially not after being dead for two years.

Certainly there was the notion of being haunted by the ghosts of one’s past, but this ghost was attending university classes.

Even though he only caught a glimpse, Akira had little doubt who it was. That mop of light brown hair and striking red eyes. But maybe he actually imagined the whole thing. Perhaps it just took a couple years for Akira’s traumatic experiences to catch up to him.

He sank further down into his seat as he tried to get his focus back on whatever the professor was still drawling on about in that terribly monotone voice. As he stared blankly at the syllabus on his desk, memories of red eyes flooded his mind.

*****

The next day, Akira was feeling much more at ease about writing off The Ghost as just a figment of his imagination. After the sole sighting on campus the day before, the ghost of his past hadn’t haunted him at the train station or his apartment. Nothing ghostly had appeared and pointed a gun at his face.

Clearly, the stress of the new semester just briefly got to him, and everything was actually fine. No ghosts of the past here. 

He continued his walk to class, looking forward to not being haunted by former false alliances. 

Except, a familiar sight caught his eye near the bicycle rack in front of the classroom building. Akira forced himself to not look as he neared the building. No sense in humoring the trick his eyes have decided to start playing on him every time he goes to class. 

A swoosh of air behind him caused Akira to reflexively turn to uncover the source, only to watch as the eerily familiar man quickly rode around the corner of the road.

Apparently ghosts these days ride bikes to class.

*****

Akira hurried down the hallway, dodging other students as he rushed to make it to his last class of the week on time.

At least he had gone a solid two days without seeing The Ghost after the sightings on campus. Considering the sightings only took place on campus, it was probably safe for Akira to assume that it was just the stress of the beginning of his first year of college taking its toll.

He slowed down as he neared the door to room 405 so as to not create a disturbance when entering. No need to make a name for himself during the first class meeting.

Except any amount of preparation wouldn’t have prevented what Akira found inside the classroom from making him stop dead in his tracks in front of the entire room.

Apparently a ghost was taking the sociology class that met at ten in the morning on Fridays in room 405.


	2. Phantom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ghost of Akira's past has come to haunt his sociology class.
> 
> Or at least, that's how it seemed at first glance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Aigis voice* let us strike while the iron's hot.
> 
> Special thanks to [lovedeterrence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovedeterrence) for being my sounding board through all of this.

Now, Akira had been through some real shit in the past few years of his life, but nothing had quite prepared him for this. For walking into his sociology class to find Goro Akechi sitting on the right side of the room, quietly waiting for class to begin.

Akira was absolutely rooted to the spot. Surely he wasn’t hallucinating something this realistic. Perhaps he, himself, had died suddenly; his heart had definitely stopped.

He was so shocked, he didn’t quite realize he was just standing in front of the entire class, staring at Akechi until he noticed the distant chatter of the room had died down. Akira attempted to salvage his initial impression to the class by feigning deciding on which desk he was going to sit in.

While he was “deciding,” Akechi looked up from his textbook and made eye contact with Akira. The flash of recognition Akira waited for never appeared in those unmistakable red eyes.

Akira averted his eyes as he awkwardly made his way to sit at the desk behind the ghost that seemed a bit… too real.

Thankfully, class started shortly after he sat down, saving Akira from the scrutinous looks from the rest of the room. Akechi didn’t acknowledge Akira’s presence aside from that initial eye contact, leaving Akira wondering what the hell was happening. Had he managed to piss off another god? Was this his punishment for not moving into a pet-friendly apartment with Morgana?

The professor had begun passing out the syllabus at this point in Akira’s internal meltdown. Of course, this meant Ghost Akechi had to pass the copies back to Akira since he was seated behind him. Can ghosts hold syllabi? Do they follow the same grading structures as living beings?

Akira was fixated on the ghost’s hand as he reached for the syllabi being passed along the row of students. He held his breath, waiting for the moment when the paper would simply pass through Akechi’s hand and the fragile illusion would be shattered.

That moment never came.

Akira felt his chest seize up as he watched apparently-not-ghost Akechi take a copy of the syllabus from the stack. There’s no way this was real. He definitely was either hallucinating or dead, the latter being the more likely option as he had tried some coffee Futaba had experimented with this morning.

While he was busy freaking out over the fact that this Akechi was… tangible, Akira forgot that he was inevitably going to be the next one to receive the stack of papers. From Akechi, the not ghost. It dawned on his frazzled mind that perhaps the moment of the passing of papers would give Akira some sort of indication of… _anything_ at this point. He braced himself for the hand-off, wondering if Akechi might fully turn around so he could get another look at the face he hadn’t seen in far too long.

And then that moment, too, passed.

Akechi merely passed the stack over his shoulder without so much as turning his head to make sure Akira was going to take them. With hands shaking far more than he’d like to admit, Akira slowly took the papers. He sat there, dazed for a moment, just staring at Akechi’s back, unable to process what was happening. Was it even happening? If a dead man had just handed him a stack of sociology syllabi, was any of it even real or was this the beginning of some sort of eternal hellish punishment?

It took a gentle tap on his shoulder to jolt Akira out of his panic and realize he had been hoarding the syllabi. Quickly, he passed the stack to the student behind him, hoping he wasn’t drawing too much attention to himself with his strange actions, and returned to the task at hand.

Staring a hole through the back of Akechi’s head to determine if he was real.

In all honesty, the world could be falling apart around them, and Akira would be none the wiser. For him, the world he was part of… the world Akechi was no longer a part of, had already come to an end. Or at least, evidence seemed to be building that it had.

Time passed without regard for Akira’s need for it to stand completely still while he wrapped his mind around what this all meant. The next thing he knew, Akechi was packing up his textbook and papers and leaving the classroom along with everyone else, leaving Akira alone and wondering.

_What… was happening?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to catch me over on twitter: [@unclechrom](https://twitter.com/unclechrom)


	3. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira begins to deal with the new reality in which he's found himself.

The entirety of Akira’s weekend passed in a daze as he spent seemingly every minute trying to wrap his brain around what the hell was happening. Lala even sent him home early from work on Saturday night after he had managed to break several glasses while clearing off a table, but thankfully she was kind enough to not take it out of his wages for the night. 

When Futaba had texted him Sunday morning to see if he was stopping by Leblanc as usual, Akira came up with a flimsy excuse to avoid visiting in his current state. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hide the fact that something was bothering him, and he didn’t want to get her involved in his paranoia when he still wasn’t sure if Akechi was alive or if he just had an identical doppelganger running around Tokyo.

“No, sorry, I have a lot of schoolwork already,” he had sent.

“Sounds suspicious but ok,” had been Futaba’s response.

_Yeah, that excuse isn’t going to hold for long_ , he thought as he tossed his phone aside.

Akira went through the next school week constantly looking over his shoulder while on campus, expecting Akechi would sneak up on him at any moment. On Monday, he had a hell of a time focusing in his other classes, not really absorbing any of the information and hoping it wasn’t going to bite him in the ass later. By the time he attended his Wednesday classes, his paranoia was starting to wane, and he almost had himself fully convinced that it had all just been an extremely realistic dream. After all, he hadn’t caught a single glimpse of Akechi since last Friday, so maybe he really had just imagined him. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

For once, he had actually been thankful that the rest of his friends have been busy with the new semester, too, so he hadn’t been forced to try to pretend that he wasn’t on the brink of potentially losing his mind.

 

*****

Akira was still a bit twitchy by the time Friday rolled around and he made his way to his sociology class. He had convinced himself it was all a dream, but part of him was holding onto the chance that it was real. Hopefully, he would get there before Akechi did so that he could get a good look at him entering the room. If it even really was him.

The door to the classroom was closed when Akira arrived, and he took a moment to prepare himself with a deep breath before he slid open the door.

And there he was again, calmly sitting at his desk, reading the textbook.

Akira realized that perhaps he hadn’t paid much attention to the time as he had made his way to class, seeing as Akechi was literally the only person in the room. In his anxious haste to beat Akechi to class, he must’ve walked quicker than necessary. He quietly took his seat in the desk behind Akechi and got out his notebook in some sort of vain attempt to actually be productive and take notes during class instead of staring at the back of Akechi’s head for the next two hours.

For a while, Akira sat in his desk and fiddled with his notebook, doodling a rather ridiculous caricature of Morgana in the margins of the paper. He should probably erase it, lest Morgana actually come across it someday while Akira’s visiting the Sakura household.

Then it dawned on Akira that it should have been well past ten in the morning at this point, and yet, he and Akechi remained the only two people in the classroom. He looked down at his wrist to check the time and realized that he must have forgotten to wear his watch. Instinctively, he reached for his phone in his pocket to just check that instead, only to discover that he had forgotten that as well this morning.

_Damn_ , he thought, _I’m really losing it this week_.

The professor wasn’t even in the classroom yet, and it had to be at least twenty past ten at this point. Wasn’t class canceled if the professor was fifteen minutes late?

_Well, there is one person I can ask_.

Akira’s hands began to feel clammy at just the thought of reaching out to touch the man in front of him, but finally he worked up the courage to tap Akechi on the shoulder to ask him for the time. The other student slowly turned around, but Akira averted his eyes, not quite having enough strength to look him straight in the face yet.

“Hey, what time is it?” he started, “Did we miss an email about class being canceled or something?” 

Akechi didn’t answer immediately, and that drove Akira to finally look up at his face. The first sight his eyes met was the unsettling grin on the detective’s face, which almost froze Akira to the spot.

At this point, pure adrenaline and fear pushed him to look up into Akechi’s eyes, where he was met with disturbing yellow eyes boring into his soul.

“It’s just you and me today, Joker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank [pagmamahal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pagmamahal/pseuds/pagmamahal) for leaving a comment on the previous chapter that inspired the idea behind this chapter. Everyone's comments are really giving me the strength to work as hard as I can on this. Thank you, everyone <3


	4. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira should really start paying attention during his sociology class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies in advance if there are any mistakes in this, but [lovedeterrence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovedeterrence) is too busy being a capitalist dog tonight to give it a thorough editing.

Akira jolted awake with a gasp, drenched in sweat and his heart was pounding. He clutched his chest while he tried to catch his breath.

He ended up stumbling out of bed to get a glass of water from his tiny kitchen in hopes it would help ground him in reality, although he nearly spilled it due to how badly his hands were shaking.

Carefully, he made his way back to his bed and tried to settle down. Akira’s heart wasn’t beating quite as hard, but he was finding it difficult to get comfortable again. Everything was suddenly too warm and too much. Finally, he laid down his head to fall back asleep, but every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was that disturbing yellow stare.

*****

Akira dragged himself out of bed with just enough time to make himself somewhat presentable for class. 

Whatever, it’s not like brushing his hair makes it look any different. Maybe his glasses would hide his sleep-deprived, bloodshot eyes from everyone.

By the time Akira makes it to the floor his class is on, his nerves are kicking in full force. His palms started to sweat, and his knees were becoming weaker with each step he took closer to room 405. When he reached the door, it was closed again. 

Akira took a deep breath and haphazardly wiped his palms off on his pants before sliding the classroom door open. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw other students already seated in the room. He entered the room, gently sliding the door closed behind himself.

As he slowly crossed the room, Akira kept his eyes locked on Akechi, who was just sitting there, reading the textbook like he had been in the nightmare. He didn’t look up as Akira took his seat in the desk behind him.

Everything… seemed okay. As okay as things could be with a supposedly dead man turning up in one of his classes. Akira tried to calm his nerves as he settled into his desk and got out his notebook in hopes of actually taking notes during the lecture. Even so, he was likely going to spend the entire class thinking about Akechi.

Who was right in front of him. Seemingly alive and well.

Who had also gotten a haircut in the time he had presumably been dead. It was shorter than Akira remembered it being, but it was still somehow just as shaggy as it had been two years ago. He wondered what other changes about Akechi’s appearance the shock of seeing him alive had kept Akira from noticing.

It appeared that his trademark metal briefcase had been replaced by a simple messenger bag, yet the rest of his attire seemed like much of the same. The formerly deceased detective was dressed in a nice argyle sweater, though in slightly darker, more neutral colors than the pretty blue one that Akira could recall him often wearing.

Noticing his vision was going a bit hazy, Akira rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands. That nightmare had made it nigh impossible to get even a moment of sleep before he had to leave for class.

Belatedly, he noticed that the professor had apparently started the lecture and had already written a few key points on the whiteboard. Akira began to roughly jot down the information in his notebook, after all, it wouldn’t do to fall behind during the first full lecture of the course.  
His head was beginning to feel as heavy as his eyelids were, so he rested his chin on his other hand while he continued to scribble down some sort of crass shorthand to catch up with the information the professor was giving the class. The pencil wasn’t quite… cooperating with his hand.

_Hope I can decipher this later…_

Suddenly Akira felt a light tap on his shoulder, and he jolted in his seat. 

When had he laid across his desk…?

He rose up and took a look down at his notebook, only to find that his writing went from fair, to illegible, to just a straight line across the page. Akira frowned at it.

_Reminds me of Takemi’s handwriting._

Akechi was also looking down at Akira’s notebook.

Wait. Akechi was looking at Akira’s notebook.

Suddenly, Akira jerked up and straightened his glasses before meeting eyes with the other student. That reddish-brown hue was truly unmistakable.

“Are you alright?”

Akira’s heart skipped a beat and flew up in his throat all at once, but he did his best to feign nonchalance when all he wanted to do was play that voice on repeat in his head forever, lest he ever forget its calming tone.

Instead he ruffled his already messy hair and tried to choose his words carefully. _Yeah, I was just up all night after having a nightmare about you_ probably wouldn’t be the best thing to say right out of the gate.

“Nightmare. Couldn’t sleep,” was what Akira finally settled on as his answer. He couldn’t help but notice the grogginess in his own voice and grimaced inwardly at it. If that was what he sounded like, he couldn’t imagine he looked any better than death itself.

For just a second, Akira could swear he saw something akin to sympathy flash in Akechi’s eyes before he started to pack up his messenger bag to leave. They were the only two still in the classroom. Akira realized he must have accidentally slept through the entire lecture.

Akechi was halfway to the door when he turned around to face Akira, who was still attempting to gather his wits and hadn’t moved from the desk.

“If you can’t decipher those scribbles, feel free to borrow my notes sometime,” he offered before leaving Akira by himself in the empty classroom.

It had been two years since he last felt this ache in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly though, did you all expect something else?
> 
> ...
> 
> ANYWAY.
> 
> Thank you everyone for your comments. They seriously make my day. <3
> 
> As always, you can catch me on twitter: [@unclechrom](https://twitter.com/unclechrom)


	5. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira gets interrogated at Leblanc and then gets very little sleep in true college student fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG. My editor was stolen from me by a corporate retailer.  
> I hope you find it worth the wait! <3

Akira wasn’t quite sure how he was going to survive the weekend.

He hadn’t been able to wheedle out of helping for the day at Leblanc, and he was heading over there now. Last week Futaba had sent him a picture of Sojiro forlornly eating the curry he had made for their usual Sunday night dinner with the caption “Dad made curry for all three of his kids and I’m the only one who showed,” with a crying emoji.

He couldn’t bear to see something that depressing again.

The familiar bell chimed overhead when Akira entered the cafe, and immediately the scent of coffee beans permeating the air made him feel right at home.

Sojiro didn’t even look up from where he was working behind the counter, “Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

“I wiped my paws off first, I swear!” Morgana mewled in protest. Akira couldn’t help but laugh at his misunderstanding.

“Oh,” Morgana finally noticed he had entered the cafe, “Look who finally decided to show up for once.”

“From what I’ve heard, you weren’t at dinner last week either.”

Morgana decided to drop the subject.

“Since you’re here now, I’ll be heading out to pick up some ingredients for dinner,” Sojiro said as he took off his apron, “Futaba should be over any minute now.”

As if on cue, the door chimed again as Futaba came rushing into the cafe and made a beeline for Akira. She gave him a swift kick in the back of the knees, causing Akira to have to catch himself against the counter when his knees buckled. She took a seat in one of the stools along the counter, seemingly unbothered by the destruction she had unleashed on on Akira’s legs.

“You know what, I deserved that.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Sojiro doing a very poor job of concealing a chuckle.

“Alright, kids. I’ll be back in a few. Don’t wreck the place while I’m gone.”

“Quick, call Ryuji. We’re gonna throw a rager,” Futaba quipped. 

Sojiro rolled his eyes at his daughter’s antics, but Akira definitely saw a smile on his face as he left the cafe. Akira went behind the counter to grab his usual apron and slip it on, while Morgana hopped up onto the stool next to Futaba.

“No paws on the counter,” Akira teasingly reminded him, “Wouldn’t want the customers to see that.” 

Morgana grumbled something about having not seen a customer all day.

Akira went about his usual tasks of cleaning cups and wiping down the counter. It wasn’t like Sojiro actually expected him to do much when he watched Leblanc, but it was always worth the smile on his face when he returned to find everything sparkling clean.

“So what has you all quiet and avoidant?” Morgana asked.

“I just haven’t slept well lately,” Akira sighed as he scrubbed harder at a particularly stubborn coffee stain. The others didn’t seem to buy that explanation.

“Did you… meet someone on campus?” The question was accompanied with a leer in Morgana’s eyes that left Akira almost a bit nervous.

_Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong about that._

“...you could say that, I guess.”

_“What?!”_ The combined shrillness of their shouts made Akira wince a little.

“Who is it?! Do we know them?” Morgana began the interrogation he should have seen coming from a mile away.

“I think you’ve possibly met before.” There was no use in flat out lying to either of these two. Both of them could see right through Akira.

Suddenly, Morgana looked absolutely horrified, and for a second Akira worried that somehow he had miraculously figured everything out.

“You’re not secretly seeing Lady Ann, are you?” he mewled in dismay.

“Definitely not,” came Akira’s deadpan response.

The cat squinted at him over the counter.

“As long as you’re not trying to steal Lady Ann’s heart from me…”

Akira just nodded along. He wasn’t about to tell Morgana that he presumed Ann’s heart had been stolen by Shiho long ago. He deserved some kind of hope, as delusional as it may be.

“It’s just… something really new and tentative.” Akira started to explain, “I’ll tell you all more when there _is_ more.”

He hoped that was enough to satisfy his two beloved gremlins for now. If he could judge by their nods, Akira would say it was.

“Fine. I didn’t want to know any gross details about your love life anyway,” Futaba suddenly added, definitely tapping at her phone just to appear disinterested in the conversation.

Akira was kind of internally laughing because the truth was that he had been losing sleep over someone that the rest of the team still thought was dead. He figured something would force him to spill the beans eventually, but he’d try to do some reconnaissance first. He needed to know exactly what he was dealing with before he dragged his friends into it.

*****

On Monday, Akira wasn’t quite looking over his shoulder as often as he had the week before, somehow having trained himself to not give in to the nervous feeling of being watched. He didn’t catch a glimpse of Akechi as he entered the classroom building for his first class. He chalked it up to just being in different places at different times; perhaps he was a bit earlier than he had been the first week of the semester.

That next day, though, he definitely saw that familiar face at the bicycle racks again. This time Akechi happened to glance up as Akira was passing by, and their met eyes for a moment that felt as though they lingered for an eternity before Akechi just nodded and returned to the task of unlocking his bike. When Akira made it into the building, he may or may not have had to stop to catch his breath a bit.

By the time Wednesday rolled around, Akira had made a personal resolution to approach Akechi if he found him on campus that day. This whole only catching glimpses of him around campus or staring at him during class really wasn’t solving anything.

_Speak of the devil._

As he was passing by the cafeteria windows, he noticed Akechi inside, seated alone at a corner table. This was definitely a prime opportunity presenting itself. All he had to do was walk inside and strike up a conversation with the detective. Akira began mentally running through the possible scenarios, and all of them were quite honestly potential disasters.

Well, he didn’t survive all those Big Bang Burger challenges for nothing.

Akira headed towards the entrance, but as he reached for the door handle, something made him freeze. The unexplainable wave of unease that washed over him was like a magnetic force repelling him from the door.

_Those burgers shaved years off my life for absolutely nothing._

Once he realized he was likely blocking the path of hungry college students, Akira quickly backed away from the entrance, bumping into a few students determined to get past his indecisiveness. He muttered a few apologies as he ducked away and melted into the crowd of students bustling through campus, fighting the desire to turn back for one more glance at the mysterious student.

Though he could have sworn he saw Akechi look up as he hurried away. 

*****

Later that night, Akira wearily kicked off his shoes the second he entered his tiny apartment, not caring where they landed as he shuffled along the whole ten steps it took for him to reach his also tiny bed. He did manage to toss his glasses onto his desk before he collapsed in an exhausted heap.

As if school wasn’t enough to wear him out every day, his part-time job at Crossroads knew just how to finish him off, mentally and emotionally. Tonight a salaryman had talked his arm off about interest rates and investments, and frankly, all of it had gone in one ear and right out the other. He just didn’t have the mental capacity to do anything more than pretend to listen and comprehend when his mind was very much preoccupied.

After a few minutes of basking in the sweet silence of his dimly lit apartment, Akira decided more comfortable clothes were in order, and he dragged his ass off the bed to change before sleep claimed him. By the time he changed into his pajamas and washed his face, he was already wide awake again. Instead of wasting time memorizing every speck of dust on the ceiling, he decided to put his second wind of energy to good use. He rolled over and grabbed his phone, immediately pulling up the search engine.

Thank god for the extra long charging cable Futaba had gifted him a while back after making fun of him for struggling with the short cord that originally came with his phone.

His fingers hesitated over the keyboard as Akira wondered if he was really ready to face whatever he might find out there.

He took a deep breath and slowly typed Akechi’s name into the search bar, hitting enter before he could second guess himself. Suddenly, it felt as though his heart was lodged in his throat as the page populated with results. There were a few articles about his disappearance on various celebrity news websites, but the titles weren’t very promising.

_“The Disappearance of the Detective Prince”_

_“Where in the World is Akechi Goro?”_

_“Detective Prince Akechi Goro: Gone? but Possibly Forgotten”_

Akira couldn’t help but snort at how ridiculous some of them were. Randomly he clicked on one that seemed slightly less click-baity than the rest and began to skim through it for any key information. From the sound of it, Akechi’s few remaining fans were hoping that he was just taking an unannounced hiatus from the public eye in order to pursue higher education. Then he made the mistake of scrolling down to the comments. Most of them were just avid fans begging Akechi to return to television, with a few haters throwing some rather weak and grammatically incorrect shade. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting.

He wasted no time in closing that tab and returning to the search results. Two or three pages in, he finally found something that made his eyebrow quirk.

_“The Phantom Thieves Killed Akechi Goro”_

Of course he couldn’t _not_ click something like that.

The post was on a subreddit apparently dedicated to the missing detective. It was only marginally disappointing compared to what he had read thus far. Most of the theories in the post were from people who obviously had no concept of the Metaverse. The original poster was claiming that it simply couldn’t be overlooked that Akechi disappeared along the same time that the Phantom Thieves had a resurgence in popularity, yet they didn’t seem to have any solid evidence to back up their claim. It seemed like a fair number of other users agreed that the timing pointed to him being an unclaimed victim of the Thieves, but again, none of them had any way of supporting that theory. He clicked on the link leading to the rest of the Akechi Goro subreddit and started to sift through the posts there for anything promising.

That was where he found a post from a female college student claiming to have seen him on a college campus in Tokyo. He opened the link to her original post immediately.

The girl, who refused to identify the name of the university for the sake of her anonymity, was explaining that she had seen another student on campus who beared a striking resemblance to the missing detective. According to her post, she had seen him multiple times this semester, as they seemed to have a class in the same building during the same period. At this point, she had seen the student so many times that there was no doubt in her mind that he was indeed Akechi.

Below her first post was another, this one with a rather blurry photo that looked like she had attempted to stealthily take a picture of him from afar. She had obviously used an editing app to blur out other students who happened to be in the photo as well, making the whole image one big blur with a slightly less blurred student with choppy brown hair.

“His hair is shorter, but there’s no way this isn’t Akechi-kun!” was her comment on the photo. Akira had to really squint at the image, but he had to agree with the girl. That was definitely Akechi.

Funny enough, her post had a good number of downvotes on it, with a couple users chiding her for sneaking photos of strangers in public without their permission. He kept scrolling and found another post from the same girl, who seemed determined to get other users to believe her. She explained that she had finally worked up the courage to approach him on campus and ask if he really was Akechi.

Akira could feel his heart begin to race as he continued to read the post.

The girl went on to explain that Akechi seemed to very genuinely have no idea who she was asking about, and he apologized for not being who she thought he was. Akira felt his gut twist.

“Maybe he’s studying theater! I would love if he made his debut as an actor when he returns to television!” This post had even more downvotes than the blurred photo and had replies telling her she needed to leave the student alone.

Akira actually felt a bit sorry for her.

Finding no more posts from the college student, he closed that tab too and let his phone drop onto the mattress. He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, dry from staring at his phone screen for too long. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the part of him that felt relieved at having not found what would have been a confirmation of what they had all assumed back on the ship.

Not a single article or post about a body ever having been discovered.

With a heavy sigh, Akira reached for his phone again, this time when he pulled up the search engine he typed in one word.

Amnesia.

*****

The next day Akira was really regretting how late he stayed up doing research on his phone as he made the trek to his sociology class. It wasn’t like it was an early class by any means, but with how little sleep he managed to get, it might as well have been an eight A.M. class.

Once again, the sight he was met with in the classroom made him freeze in front of the entire room, though this time it was more because of a… lack of something.

The desk in front of his usual spot was completely empty.

Hesitantly, Akira took his seat and got out his notebook and pen.

_Maybe he stayed up until five in the morning, too, and he’s just running a bit late._

The minutes crept onward, and still the other student didn’t show up. At this point, the professor was starting to lecture and was already writing points on the whiteboard. Akira flipped open his notebook to a fresh page and began to jot down the information. Though, when he looked up to the board, it was impossible to not feel like something terribly important was missing.

As he stared at the empty seat in front of him, Akira hoped Akechi was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to be 100% truthful I spent the one night we were both free paying Daydream 10+ times on Superstar BTS. Pace yourself in your rhythm mobage, kids. Don't end up like me.
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3


	6. Special Delivery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Sunday, another interrogation at the hands of his friends, except this time there’s a surprise guest.

Akira found himself at Leblanc again on Sunday because of course he was a glutton for punishment and curry, but at least Sojiro’s curry was worth whatever pain Futaba and Morgana inflicted upon him.

The second he walked into the cafe today, he knew Futaba was up to something. She was seated at the counter with her hands clasped like some anime villain, the sheen on her glasses concealing her intent, and Morgana was silently sitting in the stool beside her. Neither of them moved or said a word when he entered.

Oh, he was in for it today.

Akira pretended to not notice her unusual behavior as he put on his apron and got to work. There weren’t any customers in the cafe, and the silence was honestly making him tense. After a few minutes, the suspense became overwhelming, and he tossed the cleaning rag down onto the counter.

“OK, fine. Whatever you have to say, just say it,” Akira said, letting his frustration show a bit.

“I thought you had more perseverance than that, _Joker_ ,” Morgana tsked.

Futaba chimed in, “He’s gone soft.”

Akira rolled his eyes at the two of them, “Well?”

Suddenly, Futaba sat up straight with such a serious expression on her face that Akira involuntarily gulped. What the hell had he done?

“You’re not actually seeing anybody,” she started.

“Hey, we’ve had the talk about invading other people’s privacy,” Akira reprimanded her.

She paused for a moment, obviously giving him a chance to confess on his own. He wasn’t going to take it.

“Why were you looking up information about Akechi?” She looked him straight in the eyes, and Akira was suddenly taken aback by how much she had changed. The hacker they had saved two years ago would have never been able to do this.

“Why were you looking at my search history?” Akira countered, picking up a cup and starting to clean it in an attempt to appear unbothered.

“Listen, I’m the one interrogating _you!_ ” She was starting to get a little fired up now.

“You know,” He paused for effect, “...that’s a bit dangerous. There’s no telling what you could find.”

“Like I haven’t seen worse,” she rolled her eyes. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

He looked over at Morgana. “You have anything to add, too?”

“Nope, I think she’s doing an excellent job on her own.” Even Morgana sounded a little proud of Futaba’s determination.

Akira began to question if the curry was actually worth it.

“I also noticed that you were researching amnesia…” She actually looked concerned. “You know if something’s happened, you can talk to us about it. It’s not like we haven’t already been through hell together.”

Just as he was trying to figure out how the hell he was going to worm his way out of this one, the bell chimed as the door to Leblanc opened.

_Oh, thank god, a customer._

Akira smiled as he turned to greet the customer, but his words were lost the second he saw who had walked in. There, standing in the doorway of Leblanc, was Akechi with a delivery company uniform and a helmet on, holding a package. The cup he was cleaning dropped out of his hands and shattered on the floor, startling both Morgana and Futaba who looked to see what the hell had caused such a reaction. 

Their jaws dropped simultaneously, and they just sat there, stone-still, as they stared in shock.

Akechi, perfectly professional and seemingly unbothered by their reactions, just smiled at Akira. “Oh, hello. Imagine running into you here.”

All Akira could do was just blankly nod in agreement.

“I have a package here for uhh,” Akechi checked the name on the delivery slip, “Sakura-san?”

“Oh,” his words finally snapped Akira out of his daze, “I’ll sign for it.”

The delivery boy took a few steps further into the cafe and set the box down on the counter before handing over the clipboard and a pen for him to sign with. While he was signing, Akechi took a moment to look around the shop and take in his surroundings.

“This seems like a quaint little place,” he commented. “Do you work here?”

Somehow finding his voice again, Akira answered, “I help out from time to time.”

He handed the clipboard and pen back to Akechi, whose gaze had settled on the two still frozen in their stools. “You two look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

He chuckled at Morgana in particular, whose little mouth was hanging open, “What a cute little cat.”

Morgana clamped his jaw shut at that comment. Akechi’s eyes lit up as if he remembered something incredibly important, and Akira felt every muscle in his body tense up in defense.

“By any chance,” Akechi turned towards him, “...did you take notes on Friday? I couldn’t make it to class that day.”

Akira just meekly nodded at the question, his mind and body still trying to catch up with the situation unfolding. Akechi looked relieved as he smiled at Akira, who was definitely not relieved and could feel his heart speeding up even faster at having that smile directed at himself.

“If you don’t mind, could I borrow them sometime? I can let you see mine from last week.” Akechi offered. Ah, right. The week Akira fell asleep in class.

“Sure.” Akira was a pro conversationalist today. The delivery boy continued to carry the conversation quite nearly on his own. 

“Wonderful,” he was still grinning at Akira, who was still having a heart attack. “We can exchange them sometime next week.”

Seeming to realize how much time had passed, Akechi hurried over to the door. 

”Well, I have to be going. These deliveries won’t make themselves, and if they did I’d be out of a job.” He chuckled at his own joke before making eye contact with Akira. “See you in class.”

The bell above the door chimed again as he left. Akira took a second to collect himself before he started picking up the pieces of the shattered cup littered across the floor.

Finally, Futaba seemed to recover from the shock and shouted, “What the _hell_ was that?!”

“Yeah, that’s why I haven’t been sleeping well,” Akira answered as he dumped the broken pieces into the trash can.

“You’re dating a dead guy?!”

Akira gave her a deadpan stare. “No, he’s in my sociology class.”

“Oh thank god,” she exhaled, “I didn’t want to give you the necrophilia talk.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her but didn’t question it. He really didn’t want to know.

“So you’ve been seeing him on campus for a couple weeks now?” Morgana inquired.

Akira nodded at Morgana. “I walked into my sociology class, and he was just… there. All not dead and stuff.”

Morgana appeared to be deep in thought. “Has he done anything… peculiar?”

“Aside from not recognizing me and not seeming to know who even he is? Nah,” Akira answered, perhaps a little clipped.

Futaba had a pensive look on her face, as if she was already calculating something. “Keep us posted, alright?”

“Sure thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG.  
> I spent all of last week prepping for BTS ticketing (thank GOD my friend got us tickets), and then I made the mistake of going to see Infinity War and I'll likely never recover from it. I kept trying to make this chapter longer so that it was worth the wait, but my soul is so destroyed it just wasn't working I'm sorry
> 
> Thank you all for your patience!! I really appreciate every single one of you who have been reading. <3


	7. The Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two most terrifying words to ever be uttered in a college classroom: group project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience on this chapter! I'm sorry that this has somehow turned into a slow burn. I'm really so, so sorry. It wasn't my intention at the beginning of all of this.
> 
> Since it's the 17th in my timezone, happy birthday to my darling writing partner, [lovedeterrence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovedeterrence). This is typically when someone would dedicate a chapter out of love, but instead I'm dedicating [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE5lBIf3_UI) to you.

It seemed as though constantly looking over his shoulder was really becoming a frequent habit of Akira’s whenever he was on campus. He had already made it through two whole days without running into a certain former detective, but that hadn’t stopped him from carrying around his sociology notebook every day just in case.

 _It’s not obsessive_ , he had told himself the third day he packed his notebook into his bag, _it’s just being prepared._

Remembering where he had spotted Akechi around that time last week, Akira headed towards the cafeteria near the center of campus. Once he got there, he peered through the window to see if Akechi was even inside. Sure enough, he was seated at a table by himself much like last week.

Akira took a deep breath to steel his nerves before he headed into the building to approach his classmate. Akechi looked up, as if sensing his presence and a wide smile spread across his face. Akira did his best to ignore the way his heart clenched at the sight.

“Hello again,” Akechi greeted as he motioned to the chair across from him, inviting Akira to join him. He began to sift through his shoulder bag, eventually producing a small, red spiral notebook, which he slid across the table to Akira. “Good thing I happened to bring my notes with me today.” 

Akira responded by getting his own notebook out of his bag and handing it Akechi. The former detective nonchalantly flipped through the pages, finding the notes from the day he was absent.

“I had a feeling you probably took decent notes that day.” He smirked. 

Was that a dig at his inability to pay attention during class…? Akira squirmed a bit.

As he put Akechi’s notebook into his own bag, the desire to ask why he had missed class the day grew stronger. But as Akira was weighing the risks of asking, Akechi suddenly checked the time and began to hastily pack up his belongings.

“I actually hadn’t realized how late it is,” he explains sheepishly. “I have to be heading to my next class now. Catch you on Friday?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Akira nodded. 

“Thanks for the notes.” Akechi tossed another smile his way before hurrying away from the table, leaving Akira feeling like he had been caught in a whirlwind. Was he _ever_ going to have a decent chance at talking to him? He ran his hand through his hair before hooking his bag over his shoulder and heading out of the cafeteria, too.

*****

  
When Akira entered his apartment, he grimaced at the pile of unwashed dishes piling up in the too tiny kitchen sink. He kicked off his shoes by the doorway and set his school bag on his desk before begrudgingly rolling up his sleeves to finally do some of the chores he had been putting off for a while. He’d been so distracted by everything that had been happening as of late that his apartment was starting to look like he was on the brink of a mental breakdown.

Satisfied that the apartment had been returned to a moderately liveable state, Akira plopped down in his desk chair and pulled Akechi’s notebook out of his bag. Realizing he’d have to write on something else since Akechi had his own notebook, he rummaged through the desk drawers until he located a suitable substitute. Finally ready to copy the notes, Akira gently opened the notebook to… properly investigate everything, but he froze the moment he laid eyes on what was written on the inside cover.

Kurusu Goro.

_What._

He tossed aside his useless glasses and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and then squinted at the notebook again. Yeah, that sure was his own surname written on the page. Right next to Goro’s name. The very sight kicked his brain into overdrive.

How did he know Akira’s name… Had he even introduced himself to Akechi yet? Even at their… _closest_ , Akira didn’t think Akechi had mooned over him enough to test out the compatibility of their names in his notebook like a lovesick fool, at least not to his knowledge.

Maybe this was the new Akechi? Nah, even if his memories were gone, that still seemed unlikely.

Still feeling as if his heart was going to give out at any moment, Akira cautiously turned the pages until he found the notes for the day he had slept through class. Of course, Akechi’s notes were nothing short of meticulous. Headers and bulletpoints… suddenly he was a bit self-conscious of his own note taking habits. 

Akira took his time copying down the notes, stopping occasionally to admire Akechi’s handwriting, every stroke obviously in the correct order. Since it had been near the beginning of the semester, the information was fairly basic and straightforward, so Akira ended up finishing a bit earlier than he had anticipated. He flipped back to the inside cover and stared at the characters on the page.

 _“Kurusu Goro,”_ he whispered, still unsure of what to make of it. 

Hesitantly, as if the ink would burn his skin, Akira ran his fingers over the page. He let out a deep breath when, of course, nothing happened. His fingers lingered on the writing for a moment longer before he finally closed the cover and put Akechi’s notebook back inside his bag. He quickly pushed the chair away from the desk, causing the legs to screech as they dragged across the wooden floor. He should really get some of those chair socks with the paw pads on them.

Limbs heavy, Akira shuffled over to the bathroom. Maybe washing up for the night would help clear his mind a bit. He leaned over the sink and splashed some cold water on his face, hoping for some sort of relief. Going through his nightly routine made him physically feel a bit more like himself, but still Akira couldn’t get his mind off what he had found in the notebook.

Noticing the late hour, Akira turned off the lights before crawling into bed to try to sleep, though he suspected his efforts might be in vain. No matter how he tried to get comfortable, his mind still wouldn’t rest. Even when he closed his eyes, all he could see was his own name on that page.

*****

His feet pounded against the pavement as he darted through the crowded streets, rushing to get to class on time, clutching his bag closely to his body to avoid accidentally smacking any innocent pedestrians on their Friday commute. Of course Akira would sleep through his alarm clock after tossing and turning for a second night in a row, and _of course_ he managed to miss his usual train, too.

Akira almost lost his footing on the stairs leading up to the classroom building, but he caught the railing before he slipped entirely. He had to laugh at himself if after everything he’d been through, a little bit of sleep deprivation was his downfall, even more so since the cause of it all was the very person who had wanted him dead just two years ago.

He checked the time on his phone as he turned down a hallway; two minutes until ten. He was really cutting it close today.

When Akira reached the door to the room, he stopped to readjust his jacket and fix what he could of his hair before sliding open the door and entering. Akechi was exactly where he expected him, already seated at his desk looking prepared for class, with Akira’s notebook in front of him. He watched as Akira quietly crossed the room and sat behind him.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t coming to class today.” He smiled at Akira as he returned his notebook.

“Me neither.” Akira couldn’t even hide the fact that he was out of breath. That got a genuine laugh out of the former detective, and suddenly Akira’s heart was laboring for an entirely different reason. He realized Akechi was watching him now, and his mind went blank for a moment.

_Oh. He probably just wants his notebook back._

Quickly, Akira dug through his bag and found the notebook that destroyed his peace of mind. He handed it to Akechi, who nodded in thanks.

Just as he was about to bring up the whole Kurusu thing when the professor started class, and Akechi turned around quickly to pay attention like the model student Akira always expected that he was. Meanwhile, Akira was in for another class session of being completely incapable of thinking about anything aside from the man in front of him and all of the new mysteries unfolding.

Once again, he found himself losing track of time as he watched Akechi diligently take notes as the professor droned on and on. Was Akechi even his name anymore? Akira snapped out of his thoughts for a second and tried to focus on what was being discussed. Something about the post-war period… Had he read about this in the textbook yet? Had he even opened his sociology textbook yet or was that the one he was using as a doorstop currently?

Finally, Akira worked up enough sense to flip open his notebook to a fresh page to make an attempt at taking some notes today. He was beginning to feel some sort of impending doom involving his grades if he didn’t get a grip on his focus. He managed to jot down some information about foreign influences after the war which the professor had listed on the whiteboard. Just as he was getting closer to catching up with all of the information on the board, the rest of the students in the classroom started chattering as they packed up their belongings and left. Akira was starting to really question how the passing of time worked.

He was finishing with the last bit from the board when he looked up to find Akechi was watching him again. “So, would you like to be partners then?”

Akira froze. His pencil fell out of his hand and rolled off the desk somewhere onto the floor, likely near where his jaw landed, too. Seemingly unperturbed, Akechi smiled nicely as he picked up the fallen pencil and set it on the desk.

“For… what?” Akira finally remember how to speak.

The response he received was a slightly confused look from the other student. “For the group project mentioned near the beginning of class?”

“Oh.” Akira’s heart rate calmed a bit. “I might not have been paying much attention then.”

Akechi side-eyed the mostly empty page of notes laying open on Akira’s desk. “Clearly you had something else on your mind today.”

Feeling embarrassed, Akira ducked his head. “Uh, sure. Sounds good to me.”

“Excellent.” He began writing something down on a piece of paper. “I figured since you’re always staring at the back of my head or watching me on campus, you wouldn’t say no.”

_Shit._

So much for his heart rate slowing down. He had been so certain that he hadn’t been obvious, but maybe Futaba and Morgana were right, he really had lost his touch. After casually filleting Akira like it was nothing, he handed over the piece of paper he’d written on. 

“Here’s my number...” Then he stopped, as if remembering something. “Oh, I don’t think I’ve actually properly introduced myself. My name is Kurusu Goro.”

Akira snapped back to reality, his mind racing to determine the best way to go about this. After all, he’d spent the past two nights agonizing about this very moment. As of late, he’d become a total mess, but he told himself surely he could handle this.

He gave a polite nod in response. “Kurusu Akira. I’d noticed from your notebook that we seem to have the same surname.” He wasn’t sure if that was smooth at all.

Genuine surprise seemed to flash in the other man’s eyes at that, but he recovered swiftly. “Oh! Even more reason for us to team up.”

_Well, he handled that strangely well._

“We should meet up sometime to work on the project. It sounds fairly simple, so it shouldn’t take long. How about at that quaint little cafe you work at?” Akechi, no, Goro suggested.

Calling him Kurusu would feel a bit… odd. He supposed it wouldn’t be a bad idea to mentally refer to him as Goro again, as he ignored the twinge in his heart. _Wait, did he just suggest to meet at Leblanc?_

“Fine by me,” Akira answered, despite all of the catastrophic scenarios rapidly playing out in his mind. “I’ll check my schedule and let you know what time’s best.”

Goro looked satisfied with that answer, and he started packing up his things to leave. Akira took this as a cue for him to do the same. “Well then, I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

With one last smile towards Akira, Goro left the room, leaving him completely alone in the empty classroom.

_“Fuck.”_

Akira let his forehead hit the desk with a thud. Maybe he should have just let Goro shoot him in the head two years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm sorry about the wait! Honestly, I was preparing for Colossalcon, and it threw off my groove. Then one of my con roomies got mad at me for not updating more often, so she's the real MVP who re-lit my fire.
> 
> As always, feel free to find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/unclechrom), but please don't troll me online.


	8. Goro from Sociology Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to get down to the root of the word _sociology._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the wait again, but you all have probably gotten used to it at this point and expect nothing less from me. At least this time it's the longest chapter yet! Please enjoy.

That night Akira found himself incapable of doing much else aside from staring at the small piece of paper on which Goro had written his phone number. He could just text Goro at any second, whenever he wanted. This was way too much power to have right now.

After a solid half an hour of staring at at the paper, he finally tore his eyes away to check what his work schedule was for the week. He already knew he was going to be busy with work and helping out at Leblanc this weekend, so they would likely have to meet up sometime during the week. 

He typed Goro’s number in the recipient line and then stared at the cursor as it blinked at him ominously in the message box. He racked his brain for a good way to start the message, something cool but without sounding like he was trying too hard. Eventually Akira settled on “Hey. This is Akira from sociology.” ...which… wasn’t really cool _at all_ but was decidedly better than trying to crack a joke that wouldn’t come across well in a toneless text message.

Akira typed some other stuff about what days would be best for him, gave it a once over for any mistakes, and then hit send before he could second guess himself. He tossed his phone aside and flopped onto his bed to lay and suffer while waiting for a reply. Surprisingly, his phone dinged not two minutes later.

Apparently someone wasn’t as concerned with the perfection of his messages.

“Tuesday works for me. Are we meeting at the cafe you work at?”

Despite how reluctant he was about the thought of Goro spending more than two minutes at Leblanc, Akira replied, “Yeah, that’ll work. How’s 5?”

As he awaited Goro’s reply, he contemplated how he was going to make this work.

_Hey Futaba, please tell Sojiro to just uhhh pretend that there’s not a dead person sitting in his cafe._

_Also, don’t you dare wear that mask. Actually, please just don’t come at all._

He received another reply from Goro. “5 is good for me. See you then (･ω<)☆”

 _Oh no, that was really cute._

Akira felt his face heat up a bit, and he laid there for a moment, kind of drowning in his own thoughts. Everything still felt so surreal. There was a constant feeling in the back of Akira’s mind that one day he was just going to suddenly wake up from this strange dream and Goro would be gone again. Well, until that happened, he had to simply keep moving forward. He tossed the pillow aside and picked up his phone again, opening up the family group chat.

“Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you two about on Sunday.”

Futaba’s reply was as immediate as always. “Oooooh hint pls. Wait, do we get any hints? How many hints do we get?”

“No hints, it’s too complicated. I don’t really want to explain it over text,” he answered back.

“ :c “

“Don’t make that face. You already know some of it.”

“ :’C “

Then came a reply from Sojiro. “Did you get yourself into trouble again?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ll explain on Sunday.” Akira replied.

“Fine then.” Sojiro seemed fine with waiting.

“Guess I’ll perish.” Futaba less so.

Akira cracked a smile at her last reply; she was always so melodramatic. He set his phone on the bedside table before settling in for the night, his mind once again plagued with all of the possibilities to account for on Tuesday. In spite of that, he actually managed to drift off to sleep moments later.

*****

Sunday came sooner than Akira was really prepared for, but he dragged himself to Leblanc regardless. Hopefully there wouldn’t be very many customers today, as if there ever were. When he opened the door to the cafe, he was met with the comforting quiet one could expect of Leblanc. Sometimes he wondered how the place managed to stay open, but Sojiro must have his ways.

Immediately, the combined smell of curry and coffee hit his nostrils and somehow calmed Akira’s nerves a bit. Sojiro was busy cooking, and Futaba was playing around with Morgana in one of the booths. He trusted them more than anyone else he knew, but he still wasn’t sure what he was getting into with Goro, and now he was about to involve those he cared about the most. 

Sojiro was the first to acknowledge his presence. “Thought I’d go ahead and fix our food before we get too into… whatever it is. Should be finished here in a minute.”

Akira smiled and nodded in appreciation at him before taking a seat across from Futaba and Morgana.

“You should start wearing a bandana in this form, too.” Futaba remarked as she ruffled the fur on his cheeks.

Morgana attempted to look annoyed at the disturbance of his fur, but he obviously didn’t mind the attention. “Do you think I’d look good?”

“You’d look _dashing._ ” She continued. “Maybe it should be yellow like your collar. It’s a nice color on you.”

“What about blue, to compliment his eyes?” Akira joined in.

The debate on colors was interrupted as Sojiro began setting plates down on the table in front of them, including a small plate with food a bit more feline friendly. Once the kids had their food, he got his own and sat down in the spot next to Akira.

“If any customers come in, you know the drill.” Sojiro reminded Futaba and nodded in Morgana’s direction.

“Throw him under the table!” she confirmed maybe a bit too eagerly. 

The cat eyed her warily as he began to eat the chicken Sojiro had made for him. He was definitely being spoiled while living with the Sakura’s these days. A certain someone was obviously still a sucker for that “cute little voice” of his.

Futaba dug into her curry with the same eagerness she had regarding tossing Morgana about, and Akira began eating his as well, making sure to get the perfect ratio of sauce to rice in every bite. In the past few months, Akira had found that he preferred to savor every bite of curry, as he didn’t get this taste of home as often as he had when he lived in the attic.

“Now, I’ve already heard Futaba’s crazy theories on what this is all about, but let’s hear what you’ve got to say.” Sojiro breached the topic without even touching his food.

“Oh? What’d she tell you?” Akira raised his eyebrow at Futaba, who was trying to play innocent and wasn’t looking up from her food.

“Something about the ghost of a dead detective attaching itself to you.” Sojiro chuckled as he took a bite of curry. He seemed to find the idea more humorous than Akira had expected.

“Actually, I’ve already disproven the ghost theory.” Akira added. “And he’s coming to Leblanc on Tuesday to meet up with me.”

Sojiro’s smile dropped, and his spoon nearly did too. “Wait, you mean she wasn’t trying to pull my leg?”

Akira shook his head. “He’s uhhh… in my sociology class.”

Sojiro gave him an incredulous look. “And you’re certain this person is _the_ Akechi?”

“Well,” Akira started, “I’m fairly certain it’s him, though he’s… different. Judging by his actions so far, I think he possibly has amnesia.”

“That could complicate things a bit.” The older man mused.

“So,” Futaba finally got serious. “Why have you gathered us all here today?”

“We need a plan for Tuesday.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Morgana joined in.

“Yeah,” Akira said as he pointed at both Futaba and Morgana. “You two need to make yourselves scarce.”

“What?!” They yelled, or in Morgana’s case mewled, in indignation, but Sojiro shot them both a look that stopped their protests at that.

“Seriously. Don’t be hanging around here.” Akira added, “Please.”

Morgana protested. “But who is going to back you up if something happens?”

“I’ll be fine, and if worse comes to worst, Sojiro will be here. But I really don’t want to try to explain to an amnesia why we have a talking cat here. Well, that is, if he can even still understand him.”

“What about meee?” whined Futaba.

“The less variables I have to deal with, the better,” he explained.

“But you want me here.” Sojiro was confirming the plan thus far.

“Well, someone has to run this place.” Akira joked. “Also, you’re the least familiar with him, so I think that may help… somehow.” He returned his attention to his curry that was quickly getting cold.

Sojiro nodded. “Don’t worry about the two of them. I’ll be sure to take care of that.”

How well Sojiro was taking the whole situation relieved Akira just a bit. He didn’t really think anything was going to happen, but he liked having someone stable around, should anything happen.

“I do have a question, though.” The older man began, “How do you figure that he has amnesia? What if it’s all just a ruse to get you to lower your guard?”

Akira pondered Sojiro’s point for a moment before answering. “Well for one, he truly didn’t seem to recognize me, unless he’s pretending, but I kind of doubt it considering he was never really too great of an actor, unless he’s spent the past two years taking acting lessons.”

“Two,” Akira hesitated, considering if he _really_ wanted to disclose this next piece of information. “His name is… different. Partially, at least.”

All eyes were on Akira, waiting for him to finish his explanation. He shut his eyes for a moment. Well, it’s not like he had much dignity remaining anyway. “He introduced himself as… Kurusu Goro.”

There was silence.

“Actually, that’s somehow unsurprising.” Futaba was the first to speak up, returning her attention to her food as if nothing had happened. 

“He did spend quite a bit of time here for a while there,” Sojiro mused.

That was definitely not the reaction he had expected.

“You think you’re a lot more subtle than you actually are.” She poked fun at him. “I knew you two were closer than you let on in front of the team.”

Akira could feel his face start to flush. “Did… did you _bug_ my room?” 

“I was keeping an eye on you since you kept inviting the enemy over!” Then she lowered her voice to a whisper, as if everyone else at the table wouldn’t be able to hear her. “For sleepovers.”

Obviously, Morgana had known, but the cat had always been respectful enough to not make any remarks about his relationship with Goro, aside from the initial warning to be careful. On the other hand, Futaba had much less situational awareness.

Akira just had to ask her. “You didn’t use video surveillance, did you?”

“Ew, no. What do you think I am, some sort of pervert?” She took a sip of her drink before adding, “Besides, I value what’s left of my eyesight.”

All he wanted to do in that moment was crawl into a ditch and die, but he was blocked in the booth with Sojiro at his side. There was no way he could look the older man in the eyes ever again.

“I didn’t raise her to be like this.” Thankfully, seemed to be Sojiro’s only take on the apparently not-so-revelation.

Akira’s face was absolutely burning as he watched Futaba set fire to the remains of his dignity. He tried to sink down into the booth to hide his shame from the others, to no avail.

“You think this is news to me? I may be old, but I’m definitely not blind.” He chuckled. 

“Let’s please drop the subject,” Akira pleaded, still avoiding eye contact with everyone else at the table.

“Okay,” Sojiro put a stop to Futaba’s rampage. “So you want the two of them gone, but I’ll be here holding down the fort. Simple enough.”

Akira nodded, ignoring Futaba’s pout at not being included. Hopefully Tuesday would be uneventful enough.

*****

Much like Sunday, Tuesday seemed to come sooner than Akira really wanted it, although he did manage to actually pay attention in his other classes despite the stress that was looming over him. After his last class of the day was over, Akira hightailed it to Leblanc to make sure he got there before Goro did, just in case he needed to forcibly remove any nosey cats or little sisters.

He was relieved when he stepped into the cafe to find only Sojiro behind the counter. No cats or scheming hackers to be found, and Goro hadn’t shown up early either.

Sojiro must have noticed the relief on his face, “Oh, she definitely bugged the place. It doesn’t matter how often I tell her that’s not technically legal.”

That news wasn’t surprising.

“Been busy today?” Akira asked, heading to the last of the booths and setting his bag on the seat. There should still be some time before Goro showed up, if he stuck to the planned time.

“Just the usuals.” The older man shrugged. “Should be pretty quiet for your little meeting.”

Suddenly the bell over the door chimed as someone entered the cafe. Akira was laying his notebook and supplies on the table, and his head whipped up the moment he heard the jingle.

Of fucking course Goro was still the type to show up early.

Sojiro greeted Goro as he made his way over to the booth, sending Akira a radiant smile when they made eye contact. If his heart rate wasn’t already spiking, it sure as hell was now.

Goro sat down across from him in the booth, his smile a bit softer now, “Long time, no see.”

“Kurusu-san.” It was weird calling Goro that, and Akira must’ve accidentally let it show on his face because Goro chuckled at him. He might as well just go for it. “Is it alright with you if I just call you Goro?”

Goro looked at him appraisingly. “Only if I can call you Akira.”

“Deal.” _That was relatively painless._

“Would you two like something to drink?” Sojiro asked from his spot behind the counter.

Akira nodded at him. “Same as always.”

“Could I get an Americano, please?” Goro politely requested.

As Sojiro began making their orders, Goro got his class stuff out of his bag. “So, what even is the project about?” Akira asked, being totally honest since it was clear he didn’t pay attention that day.

Goro laughed before answering him. “Maybe picking you as my partner wasn’t my best idea.” His comment made Akira squirm a bit. He hoped Goro wasn’t actually regretting it.

“I’m sure there were worse options.” He jokingly defended himself. “Like that guy who sits in the back and sleeps the whole time.” 

“Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?” Goro gave him a winning smile. “I’m sure I’ll find you more than adequate. Besides, it’s a nice chance to get to know you better. I have a feeling you would agree?”

 _Was that his detective’s intuition at work?_ Akira’s heart did a little flutter.

Flipping open his notebook, Goro began to explain the general idea of the group project to Akira. “Basically, we’re to compare how the field of sociology has changed over the years in Japan, but rather more broadly than one would expect of a group project.”

As he was talking, Akira looked up to watch Goro’s face. He hadn’t truly had a chance to really look at Goro’s new hairstyle for more than a second, and the shorter style framed his facial structure nicely. It wasn’t _really_ that different, but it was just enough. It kind of… helped remind Akira that he wasn’t the old Akechi Goro. Akira was vaguely paying attention to what Goro was explaining, but really he was paying much more attention to Goro himself. His voice and manner of speaking were both still very much the same, and it might have been tugging at Akira’s heartstrings. 

There was definitely no way that Goro hadn’t noticed how much Akira was staring at him. The sly smile tugging at the corner of his mouth and the way he casually ran his hand through his hair told Akira that the attention had definitely been noticed.

“It seems the best approach would just be to compare how it was prior to the Allied occupation to how it changed following that, given the exposure to Western influences.”

That seemed to be the end of his explanation, and Akira dragged his attention away from those soft brown locks that he wished he could run his own hands through. “Why is this even a group project? It seems like there’s not really much to do, let alone enough to make it worth dividing it between two people.”

“It’s good to see you actually are capable of multitasking.” Goro commented with a smirk.

Yup. He had noticed.

Just then, Sojiro came by the booth and place their orders in front of them. Goro thanked him again and gently inhaled the coffee’s aroma before taking a sip. 

“This is wonderful.” The compliment was accompanied with that smile of his that reached his eyes. “I’ll have to drop by for more than just school work sometime.”

_Please do._

“Anyway,” Goro set down his drink and got back to work. “I agree with you on this not really seeming like it should be a group project. I’d say there’s not really any reason for multiple people to divide the work, so it’s probably some poorly planned exercise in teamwork. The professor likely thought the class wasn’t being _social_ enough. Thankfully though, there’s no class presentation involved.”

The joke dawned on Akira after a moment. 

_Even if his memories don’t seem to be intact, his terrible sense of humor sure as hell is._

“Should we just divide and conquer on this?” Akira suggested.

“Yes, that sounds like the best way to go about this.” Goro flipped to a blank page in his notebook to write on. “How about you take the pre-war studies and I’ll handle the post-war portion?”

Akira nodded in agreement, not really having any preference as to what he worked on. Group projects were always awkward at best, even with decent partners. He watched as Goro thoughtfully outlined the division of their work before scribbling down his own note of his responsibilities.

“When I’ve finished my part, should I just e-mail it to you?” He asked Goro, who appeared to be weighing the options before answering.

“Instead of that, how about we meet up again sometime later in the week?” He finally answered. “That way we can go over the information together. Perhaps over another cup of coffee?”

Akira certainly wasn’t going to point out that meeting up again would likely be wholly unnecessary, given the lack of complexity of the project, but he wasn’t going to miss out on another opportunity to spend time with Goro.

“Would Thursday be too soon?” Akira asked.

Goro chuckled at him. “Well, the project _is_ due on Friday.”

“Thursday, it is.” He felt like an idiot, but at least the other student didn’t seem to mind too much.

As they discussed the finer details of what they were going to cover on the project, Akira’s mind began to wander a bit. He thought back to the day Goro had been absent from class, and part of him wanted to ask him why.

“I was just wondering,” Akira began. “Why weren’t you in class that day?” The other student’s easygoing smile faded a bit, and immediately Akira wanted to kick himself for bringing it up.

“Oh, it was just for an appointment I couldn’t get rescheduled.” Goro nonchalantly answered, with a smile that seemed a little forced.

Akira decided to not push the subject any further than that. After all, he needed to remember that they hadn’t actually known each other for very long. Maybe he shouldn’t try to be quite so familiar with Goro yet. Even with all of the similarities, he needed to remember the person in front of him wasn’t his old Goro.

“Is your friend planning to stick around for dinner? I’ll include him in on the curry,” Sojiro directed towards Akira, who hadn’t noticed how much time had passed as they were talking.

Goro quickly glanced at his watch, checking the time. “As lovely as that sounds, I really should be going. Perhaps next time?” The smile he gave Akira looked hopeful.

Akira nodded as he watched Goro start to pack up his belongings. He wished that Goro was going to stay for dinner because he didn’t want to part ways just yet, but at least he would have something to keep him busy while he anticipated seeing him again on Thursday.

When he finished gathering his things, Goro stood up to head towards the door, and Akira followed suit out of reflex? Politeness? He wasn’t sure honestly, but he found himself standing near the door as he and Goro said their goodbyes.

“If you happen to need help with anything, feel free to text me.” Goro told him. “If I don’t reply immediately, I’m likely in class or at work.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Akira replied with a small smile.

Goro returned the smile as he reached for the door. “See you on Thursday.” And then he left, the bell chiming softly as the door closed behind him.

Akira simply stood there for a moment, staring at the door as if it’d open again and he’d be greeted with some joke about deciding to stay for dinner anyway, but of course it didn’t. He gave up and trudged over to the counter to toss himself into the stool across from where Sojiro was starting on the curry. With a heavy sigh, he rested his forehead against the cool, smooth surface.

“Don’t do that. What if a customer sees you?” Sojiro halfheartedly chastised him.

He raised his head to shoot Sojiro a look, but the older man appeared deep in thought. “So, is that really him?” he asked.

“I don’t have much evidence yet,” Akira quietly answered. “But I’m fairly certain it is.”

“Nothing is ever simple with you, is it?” Sojiro joked. He wasn’t wrong about that.

“Honestly nothing surprises me anymore,” he continued. “Just don’t get yourself into any more trouble. It was hard enough to get you out of jail the first time.”

Akira had to smile at that because he knew Sojiro genuinely cared about him, even after all the shit he put his guardian through two years ago. It was always obvious how much he cared, even with that gruff exterior he still tried to maintain.

“You staying for dinner?” he asked Akira while measuring cups of rice. “I doubt you feed yourself very well when you’re not mooching free meals here.”

“Curry _does_ sound nice after all of that hard school work…” Akira droned as he stretched out across the counter.

“Well, don’t just sit there. Start cutting things up.” Sojiro playfully chided him. “I’m sure Futaba will be over any minute now.”

Faking exasperation, Akira pulled himself up from the stool and went behind the counter to help out with the curry. The monotony of cutting up ingredients was a welcome break for his overactive mind. With everything that had been happening as of late, it was simple moments like these that helped Akira keep his shit somewhat together.

If only everything could be as simple as this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who may be interested, I created a little [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/unclechrom/playlist/0iuOEvBP89SsaOXMmnvP8m) of songs that I listen to for getting in the zone while I work on this fic. I went through the lyrics for a bunch of songs until I found the ones I felt were rather fitting.
> 
> As always, you can hit me up on [twitter](https://twitter.com/unclechrom), but please be gentle as I bruise easily. I also remade my [tumblr](https://assguardianprince.tumblr.com/) account, although I'm not over there much.


	9. Coffee and Curry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pointless group project finally comes to an end, but something much more worthwhile begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I lowkey died for like three months. Thank you for your patience!

The following day Akira began work on his half of the project as soon as he got home from classes to just get it done and over with. Even though the project appeared super easy and completely unnecessary, he wanted to give it his all to avoid disappointing his partner. That being said, even a miniscule amount of effort would have been enough to meet the project requirements, though that was likely the reason there was such a short turnaround for it.

As he worked on it, Akira’s mind strayed back to thoughts of his partner. He didn’t really comprehend how this second chance came to be, but he wasn’t going to fuck it up by driving Goro away somehow.

Was it even a second chance? It was starting to feel like some sort of cruel joke because it was just simply too good to be true.

The time flew by, and he was finished with the laughably easy work after an hour or so, leaving Akira with the rest of the night to dwell on his thoughts and the storm of emotions in his heart. Before shutting down his laptop, he made sure to save his work two more times, just in case the last three times didn’t take.

After appeasing his saving anxiety, he shuffled over to his bed to unceremoniously flop onto it. Sure, there was plenty more he could do around his apartment, but he couldn’t get his mind off of the unusual situation he had found himself in yet again. Dirty dishes were the least of his concerns when his dead boyfriend/rival didn’t seem to be quite so… dead anymore.

He sighed deeply as he stared up at the stark white ceiling of his cheap, tiny apartment. Why was his life always like this?

*****

On Thursday, Akira headed to Leblanc to meet Goro and compile their work into one document. He was running slightly behind on the meeting time because for some reason the professor for his last class of the day went on a tangent at the very end of class and kept everyone late, which caused Akira to arrive at the train platform just as the train pulled away. By the time he finally made it to the cafe, slightly out of breath from running to make up for lost time, he found Goro already seated in the back corner booth, quietly typing away on his laptop, with a cup of coffee in front of him.

He scooted into the bench across from Goro and immediately launched into an apology. “I’m _so_ sorry for keeping you waiting.”

Goro calmed him with a warm smile. “No worries, I haven’t been here all that long.”

Akira nodded as he pulled his laptop out of his bag and set it on the table. It took a second to boot up, but he supposed that was to be expected considering it hadn’t even been usable when he bought it from the junk store. Maybe someday he’d actually buy himself something new… But probably not.

He opened up the project file he had worked on last night and looked up as Goro was taking a sip of his gently steaming cup of coffee. The expression on his face was so calm, but with a warmth beneath the surface that echoed the heat of the coffee. Akira allowed himself to stare openly until Goro met his eyes, a twinkle letting Akira know he was fully aware of the attention, as usual.

“If you want,” he started, as he set down his cup, “you can just airdrop your work to me.”

Akira looked at the recipient options on his screen before picking the “Kurusu” that very obviously wasn’t himself, not even giving the other name on the screen a second thought, as they were the only two in the cafe aside from Sojiro.

“There we go. It should only take a few minutes to throw these together.” Goro said as he directed his focus to his own laptop.

As he waited for Goro to finish the work, Sojiro brought him a cup of his usual coffee. The familiar aroma helped put his mind at ease, and he leaned back in the booth to relax. But he was snapped out of his reverie when a notification popped on his laptop asking if he wished to receive a file. Akira glanced up at Goro and found him still focused on their work.

Out of curiosity, Akira accepted the file and opened it.

“So are you gonna hit that or what” was the only sentence on the otherwise blank document. 

Akira rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone to text Futaba. “Are you hiding in the attic?”

She left him on read.

Out of the corner of his eye, Akira noticed Goro glance up at him quickly before returning to his laptop. Had he received something too? Akira watched as Goro’s eyes went wide in shock and his face very quickly turned red. He even got choked up a bit and desperately took a large gulp of his drink to quell the sudden coughing fit.

Hastily, Akira texted Futaba again. “What the hell did you send him?”

This time he received a reply. “Some encouragement.”

“Please stop.” He pleaded with her, but her only reply was an angel emoji.

“Um,” Goro spoke up, “Did you happen to receive a strange document?”

Akira facepalmed in shame. “I’m so sorry. That’s… well, she’s like my little sister of sorts. I think she’s hiding upstairs.”

The response he got from Goro was something of a contemplative nod, and he appeared to be somewhat lost in his thoughts. An awkward silence fell over the two students, leaving Akira unsure of what to say next.

Suddenly, there was a distant thunk coming from the attic, and they both looked up at the ceiling.

“I’m gonna kill her,” groaned Akira. That seemed to break the awkwardness, at least, as it got a chuckle out of Goro.

“It’s kind of cute.” His eyes had softened, and a warm smile had returned to his face. Akira could feel the chest pains coming on.

Another notification pinged on his laptop, and Akira begrudgingly opened it.

“I’ve got you on recording plotting my murder.”

Goro laughed when Akira rolled his eyes. “Did she send something else?”

He turned his laptop so that Goro could read the document, and his eyes crinkled with amusement as he laughed again. “Ooh, leverage.” 

“She’s the worst.” Akira slumped across the table as the other student watched him with interest. 

“You two seem close,” Goro remarked thoughtfully.

He took a second to choose his next words carefully. “I... lived here for a year. It’s actually a really long story.”

“I’d be open to listening sometime.” Goro gave him an encouraging grin.

Sojiro called over to them. “Are you two finished with your work? The curry should be ready soon.”

“You sticking around for dinner this time?” Akira asked Goro, giving him a hopeful look to maybe sway his decision.

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Goro shyly smiled back at him.

“Hey Akira, do me a favor and tell Futaba to come down for dinner.”

Before Akira could get up to go to the stairs, the soft plodding of feet could be heard as Futaba headed downstairs. Sojiro shook his head. “Right. I forgot she can hear everything down here.”

Once she reached the cafe, Futaba gave Goro a look that resembled a deer in headlights. Goro cautiously smiled at the silent teenager. “Good to see you again.”

In a split second, Futaba’s expression changed from a deer in headlights to something more like a deer who had seen a wolf. Her face paled terribly, and Goro noticed the change.

“You know, when I made a delivery here a couple weeks ago?” He reminded her.

“Oh.” It obviously just dawned on her what he meant. “That’s right.”

Obviously having decided on her own that the conversation was over, she shuffled over to the counter and plopped down across from her father, who immediately began scolding her.

“Futaba, you’re debugging this entire place before dinner,” he told her.

“Oh come on, how am I supposed to keep an eye on things otherwise?” Futaba whined.

“You’re not.” Sojiro answered firmly. 

Futaba nodded and mumbled something under her breath before trudging back over to their booth and snatching up the napkin holder. The boys watched as she detached a tiny listening device from the bottom of it, then she suddenly dropped to the floor and reached under the table. Goro went stock still and raised his eyebrow at Akira in mild surprise, but before Akira could say anything to her, Futaba emerged with not one, but two more devices in her hand.

Akira glanced over at Sojiro to see his reaction, and the older man just looked… tired. Akira couldn’t help but laugh a bit at it all.

“Is that all of them?” He sighed as he asked. Futaba half-heartedly nodded in affirmation, but Sojiro gave her _the look_. The teenager huffed and proceeded to begrudgingly remove another from underneath the counter. Her father deadpanned towards a nonexistent camera like characters in those American comedy shows Ann makes Akira binge-watch with her, and Akira couldn’t hold back a laugh at Sojiro’s expression. Knowing Futaba, there probably was a camera hidden somewhere in Leblanc.

The delicious smell of curry was wafting through the air, and the low rumble in his stomach reminded Akira that he had somehow forgotten to eat lunch that day. After dealing with Futaba’s mischief, Sojiro dished up the steaming hot curry and brought two plates over to their booth, and Akira nodded at him in thanks.

As he was about to ravenously dig into the perfectly fluffy rice, Akira noticed Goro was carefully arranging his plate and his cup of coffee before snapping a photo on his phone. Several photos. Akira smiled softly as he watched the spectacle in front of him. Goro caught Akira’s eyes when he looked up, and he turned shy, with embarrassment lightly tinting his cheeks.

Goro cleared his throat. “I uh… enjoy taking pictures of food.”

“Do you post them anywhere?” Akira asked, remembering how in the past Akechi had run a food blog.

“Actually, yes... I have an instagram for it.” The other student seemed vaguely surprised by Akira’s interest. “I don’t really do a whole lot with it, though… Just post photos of food occasionally. Sometimes I do short write-ups about it, too.”

Akira picked up his phone and opened the app. “What’s the username?”

Goro’s face grew considerably redder. “Oh, please don’t follow me, that’s kind of embarrassing.”

Akira nudged Goro’s foot under the table. “Tell me or I’ll spend countless hours searching for it.”

He averted his eyes and whispered, “....Eat Goro. It’s all one word.”

Quickly, Akira typed the username into the search bar and clicked on the first account that showed up. He hit the follow button without really looking at the posts, and Goro opened his app when the follower notification popped on his screen.

“It’s just pictures of your cat,” he mused while looking at Akira’s own posts.

“He’s cuter than I am.” Akira supplied.

“Oh, I’d disagree on that.” Goro added quietly and returned his attention to his meal as if he hadn’t said anything notable.

_Was he… flirting?_

Goro didn’t add anything to that, and Akira just stared at him almost in shock from such a small comment. His own face was definitely red now, too. 

_Was this really happening?_ He had asked himself that question so many times in the past couple of weeks. Goro was alive and _flirting_ with him in Leblanc. Of course it seemed too good to be true after everything that had transpired two years ago.

An awkward silence had settled over the table after that, and both of them had taken to eating to fill the void.

“So…” Goro broke the somewhat tense silence by changing the subject. “Do you have dinner here very often?”

“Not really.” He explained. “I don’t really live that far away now, but I usually just do my own thing.”

“And miss out on _this?_ ” Goro motioned to the curry in front of him. “I must say, the flavor of the coffee and curry perfectly complement each other. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like it before.”

Akira teased him a bit. “Gonna write about it on your blog?”

“Maybe I will.” Goro shot back before taking a large bite of his food. It looked like he was really enjoying his meal, and it warmed Akira’s heart to see him look so contented. It’d been far too long.

The rest of their meal was spent in easy conversation about not much of anything but a little bit of everything, and Akira tried to soak in every second of it. Occasionally, Goro would smile or laugh at some stupid comment he would make, which left Akira feeling entirely too warm inside. It reminded him of less complicated times, and he felt almost guilty for enjoying this moment so much. But it wasn’t like the less complicated times had lasted very long for them.

Futaba and Sojiro were eating side by side at the counter, the older man clearly trying to keep her preoccupied to give them a bit of privacy in the small cafe, and Akira made note to definitely help with the clean-up tonight as thanks.

Eventually the plates were empty and pushed aside, and the conversation continued on, fueled by the coffee refills Sojiro gave them. Futaba had long since given up on eavesdropping and had returned to her hideout in the attic. As the amount of coffee in his cup slowly dwindled, Akira could feel his time with Goro coming to an end for the night.

Sure enough, when Goro finished his own drink, he looked at his watch and seemed surprised by the time. “Oh, wow. I didn’t even notice how late it had gotten. I should really head out, and I’m sure he’d like to close up shop. How much do I owe for dinner?”

Akira waved it off. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a tab of sorts.”

Again, Goro insisted on paying, but Akira just shook his head and decided to take a leap. 

“Next time it’s your turn,” he said with a small smirk.

Goro seemed to be caught slightly off guard with that answer, but he recovered quickly. “I suppose that’s only fair,” he said with a wink.

As Akira was recovering from that direct shot to his heart, Goro began gathering his belongings to leave. When Goro slowly made his way to the door, Akira felt compelled to follow him and moved without a second thought.

“Maybe we can do this again sometime? But without the school work.” Goro turned to him and asked once they were near the door. The look Goro was giving him made Akira feel a bit self-conscious.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” Akira answered. _Nice?_ Nice was an understatement.

Goro’s responding smile was so radiant, Akira felt like he needed sunglasses to look at him. “I’ll text you later, then.”

Akira gave a little wave as Goro left the cafe, and he lingered near the door, staring at it even after it closed. When he finally snapped out of his reverie and looked away, Sojiro had a pensive look on his face as he cleaned dishes behind the counter.

“He always did like my coffee.”

Akira shook his head and chuckled a little at Sojiro’s comment as he joined the older man in cleaning what was left of the dishes for the day. Sojiro didn’t say anything more than that, and Akira was quietly grateful for it.

*****

That night Akira flopped into bed the minute he got to his apartment and checked his phone for any messages from a certain someone that he might’ve missed on the trek home. There was a text from Futaba. Not who he was hoping for, but that was fine. He rolled his eyes and braced himself for whatever foolishness she was up to now.

“I think Sojiro knows where I hid the security camera,” was the caption on a video clip she had sent of the moment Sojiro had deadpanned at a seemingly nonexistent camera, and Akira burst into laughter when he watched it. He _definitely_ knew there was a camera there.

_Whew,_ that brought a tear to his eye. He wiped it away as he opened up instagram to do some information gathering. Akira didn’t even have to pull up Goro’s account because he had apparently just posted a few minutes prior. It was one of the perfectly angled photos he had taken of the curry at Leblanc, and Akira had to admit that it almost looked better in the photo than it had on his own plate. There must be a filter on it.

In the post’s caption, Goro went way more in-depth about what he thought about the combination of the coffee and curry than he had earlier, accompanied by a recommendation for his followers to pay a visit to Leblanc if they have the chance. His enthusiasm was evident in his writing, and Akira found it rather endearing. But it was the ending comment that caught Akira’s attention the most and made his heart feel like it might leap out of his chest.

“The food and atmosphere of Leblanc are excellent and were only made better by the lovely company I had.”

Akira hit the like button with enough force that he probably could have broken his phone screen if there wasn’t a protector on it. He didn’t get long to bask in the wave of emotions he was feeling once again, as he received a text a few moments later. It was from Goro.

“Are you doing anything Saturday?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay but seriously I apologize for the super delay on this chapter. Life was absolutely nuts for a few months. I was job hunting, then I actually got a new job, then I was preparing for my NYC trip and the BTS concert, THEN I WENT TO SEE BTS (they were amazing ofc & everyone I met was super sweet), and through all of this I tried really hard to work on the new chapter but the words just wouldn’t come out. If you’re still reading my fic, thank you so much this is literally all for you ;-; I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Also, I’ll be cosplaying Akechi at Youmacon, so if you’re going feel free to say hi if you see me!  
> As always, feel free to bug me on [twitter.](https://twitter.com/unclechrom)
> 
> Edit 3/16/2019: I don’t know how many people will notice this, but I promise I am working on the next chapter!


End file.
